Table of Contents

This study was originally processed, archived, and disseminated by Data Sharing for Demographic Research (DSDR), a project funded by the
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study follows a cohort of new parents and their children and provides previously unavailable information about the conditions and capabilities of new unwed parents and the well-being of their children. Mothers and fathers were interviewed in the hospital shortly after the birth of their children. The baseline questionnaires for mothers and fathers include information on (1) prenatal care, (2) mother-father relationships, (3) expectations about fathers' rights and responsibilities, (4) attitudes toward marriage, (5) parents' health, (6) social support and extended kin, (7) knowledge about local policies and community resources, and (8) education, employment, and income. Follow-up interviews gather additional information including (1) access to and use of healthcare and childcare services, (2) experiences with local welfare and child support agencies, (3) parental conflict and domestic violence, and (4) child health and well-being.
The first four waves of this study (1997-2003) have been archived and are available for download at ICPSR-DSDR. Nine-Year Follow Up (Wave 5) data can be found through the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study page on Princeton's website.

The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study follows a cohort of new parents and their children and provides previously unavailable information about the conditions and capabilities of new unwed parents and the well-being of their children. Mothers and fathers were interviewed in the hospital shortly after the birth of their children. The baseline questionnaires for mothers and fathers include information on (1) prenatal care, (2) mother-father relationships, (3) expectations about fathers' rights and responsibilities, (4) attitudes toward marriage, (5) parents' health, (6) social support and extended kin, (7) knowledge about local policies and community resources, and (8) education, employment, and income. Follow-up interviews gather additional information including (1) access to and use of healthcare and childcare services, (2) experiences with local welfare and child support agencies, (3) parental conflict and domestic violence, and (4) child health and well-being.

The first four waves of this study (1997-2003) have been archived and are available for download at ICPSR-DSDR. Nine-Year Follow Up (Wave 5) data can be found through the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study page on Princeton's website.

Methodology

Sample:
This national study uses a stratified random sample of all United States cities with 200,000 or more people. The stratification was not geographic; rather, it was according to policy environments and labor market conditions in the different cities. The sampling occurred in three stages: First cities, second, hospitals within cities, and third, births within hospitals. The total sample size is 4,700 families, made up of 3,600 unwed couples and 1,100 married couples. The data is representative of non-marital births in each of 20 cities, and is also representative of non-marital births in United States cities with populations over 200,000. Follow-up interviews with both parents take place when the child is 12, 30, and 48 months old. Data on child health and development is collected from the parents during each of the follow-up interviews, and in-home assessments of child well-being are carried out at 30 and 48 months.

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: